Module 3 - Discussion Question 2

Mayer's Principle: Spatial Contiguity

Community Members: Michele Baylor and Aderonke Bello

In the video and readings for this Module, you discovered five principles of design that can help reduce extraneous processing in multimedia presentations.

Reflect on what you learned in these resources, and then consider the following:

  • How might you modify your practices in designing multimedia presentations?

  • By recognizing these principles, how might you be able to increase the critical thinking of participants as they complete projects in your workshop?

Your Discussion this week allows you to organize your thoughts and ideas by participating in a three-step jigsaw activity. For the jigsaw, the class will divide into five groups. As a class, decide which group is assigned to each of Mayer’s five principles.

Then, each group will do the following:


Step 1: On the Web, find two multimedia pieces that violate your assigned extraneous cognitive processing principle. Provide specific examples and support them with references to your resources. Include a Web link to each site you selected. Each group member should find at least one example to share with the group. Your group can then work in one member’s wiki to discuss the examples and decide which two you think are best negative examples to present to the class. Then, as a group, select the two best negative examples to post in the Discussion.

Step 2: Post the two examples and Web links to the Discussion by Week 6, Day 3. Include a brief two-sentence explanation of how each violates Mayer’s principle.

Step 3: Individually, respond to the posts of at least two classmates from two different groups by Week 6, Day 6.

Collaboration and the Sharing of Ideas


Source: Skype and Emails
Michele Baylor – Skype: michele.baylor
Aderonke Bello – Skpye: ronkus1

Michele Baylor and Aderonke Bello

[7/9/2012 7:54:43 PM] ronkus1 (Aderonke Bello): Are we set for the discussion?

[7/9/2012 8:00:13 PM] Michele Baylor: Do you have [[#|voice conferencing]]?

[7/9/2012 8:01:05 PM] ronkus1: Yes, but my internet connection is very slow

[7/9/2012 8:01:10 PM] Michele Baylor: What is your real name?

[7/9/2012 8:01:24 PM] ronkus1: Aderonke Bello

[7/9/2012 8:01:28 PM] Michele Baylor: Ok

[7/9/2012 8:02:46 PM] ronkus1: okay

[7/9/2012 8:15:33 PM] ronkus1: Michelle, can we [[#|continue]]. here are the links I have

http://mannlib.cornell.edu/course-help/faculty-instructors/course-related-instruction

http://www.baycongroup.com/word2007/01_word2007.html

http://www.getwordtraining.com/

[7/9/2012 8:16:20 PM] Michele Baylor: Here are my links

[7/9/2012 8:17:35 PM] Michele Baylor: http://trendlines.ca/free/economics/RealtyBubbleMonitor/RealtyBubbleMonitor.htm

http://www.burlingtonnews.net/burlington_ufo_center.html

[7/9/2012 8:18:58 PM] Michele Baylor: Great. Take care.

[7/9/2012 8:20:12 PM] Michele Baylor: Ronkus, I will post a page and then we can put our information in it. Put something for your [[#|websites]] and then select the best one. I will view yours and you can view mine.

[7/9/2012 8:21:42 PM] ronkus1: Hi Michelle, I just check the links. The Burlington site is quite busy. I observed they used more of integrated words and pictures

[7/9/2012 8:22:57 PM] ronkus1: Just to clarify, do you want to post the page on your wiki or how do u want us to do it?

[7/9/2012 8:23:42 PM] Michele Baylor: Make sure that we follow what the directions want us to do. We will use the best one of yours and the best one of mine (basically the worse). I will have a page on my wiki for this. Let me do it now.

[7/9/2012 8:30:02 PM] ronkus1: Okay, I will respond to the wiki tomorrow. However, you can also check my links and make suggestions for the two we would use. later in the day, I will post our decision to discussion board. On this note, kindly permit me to go to bed.

[7/9/2012 8:30:27 PM] Michele Baylor: Great. See you then

[7/9/2012 8:31:06 PM] ronkus1: Thanks a lot. Bye for now.

[7/10/2012 11:39:52 PM] Michele Baylor: Hello Ronkus. I am working on our assignment now. Did you get the email that I sent you on Monday? It had the link to the wiki page for our assignment.

[7/10/2012 11:42:20 PM] ronkus1: I am not feeling too good, just managed to get up now. however, I checked my mail late yesterday and saw it. I will start working on it within the next 30 minutes. Regards

[7/10/2012 11:45:21 PM] Michele Baylor: No Problem. I hope that you are feeling better. I will be posting this morning for your review and comments. I will also state which one I think is the best (worse) to use. :)

[7/10/2012 11:47:23 PM] ronkus1: Okay.

[7/10/2012 11:47:43 PM] Michele Baylor: We will talk soon.


Site # 1: Burlington National UFO Center


UFO and Paranormal Research and Education

Mayer (2009) defined spatial contiguity principle is that students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near each other rather than far apart from each other on a page or screen. In examining the Burlington National UFO Center’s website, it appeared that the site is more of a scientific-fiction website. The site is overwhelming with animated objects, pictures, lights, and words moving simultaneously. This site displayed one of Mayer’s limited capacity principles of cognitive theory of multimedia learning. Mayer’s limited capacity principle takes place when a lot of information is provided to students at one time. He argued that the humans' minds focused on only a few concepts at a time. It is the instructor or the designer responsibility to guide the students to focus on what is relevant and needed at that time.

I have concluded that this website violates the spatial contiguity principle because it has the words and pictures close to each other; however, there is so much information on the webpage for anyone to know or understand. There are too many things happening simultaneously, the instructional design was designed poorly coupled with a poor layout of the webpage.

Link: http://www.burlingtonnews.net/burlington_ufo_center.html

Bello's comment

The burlingtonnews website looks very clumsy, though the use of integrated words and pictures featured prominently. This site cannot foster learning, the information is not well-structured making the integration of words and pictures meaningless.

Site 2: Trendlines Research

This website is another unacceptable design site. Although the site has the words and pictures beside each other or on the pictures, there is still a violation of the spatial contiguity principle because it lacks a well-instructional design and page layout. For instance, the appearance layout is difficult for anyone to determine if an individual can use his/her critical thinking skills. Mayer (2009) stressed that deeper learning and people learn better if corresponding words and pictures are near each other; however, the designers on several occasions did not provide this type of layout. Instead, links were provided, and the information or pictures were placed in other locations on the webpage.

I have concluded that although this site violates the spatial contiguity principle, it is not poorly designed as my Burlington site observation.

I am in support of your opinion. The site is too clumsy to foster learning.

Link: http://trendlines.ca/free/economics/RealtyBubbleMonitor/RealtyBubbleMonitor.htm

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Triarchic model: Reducing extraneous cognitive processing. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd ed). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University



Bello’s links

According to Mayer (2009), spatial contiguity principle avail learners the opportunity to learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near rather than far from each other on the page or screen.

Site 1:

The website link http://www.baycongroup.com/word2007/01_word2007.html is a tutorial on word processing. There are pictures depicting the procedures. However, the words are comprehensive and far from the pictures. Some of the words for a single picture are beneath, while some are written prior to the picture. This violates the spatial contiguity principle, though the format could be aligned with the case of separating words and pictures, which results in more learning (Mayer, 2009). The words have overshadowed the pictures, considering the limited capacity of a learner much learning might not be achieved.

Site 2:

The second link is http://www.multimedia-instruction.com/main_pages/products.htm. This site is on multimedia instruction with lots of products. The picture of each product is well represented, but the words describing the products are cumbersome and far apart, which does not foster learning and violate the spatial principle.

Reference

Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd ed). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University

Michele's Comments

Aderonke,

I have read your comments for Site 1 and Site 2. The Word 7 processing tutorial site violates the spatial contiguity principle because the words and the pictures are separated and beneath each other. It is difficult to know what corresponding pictures and words are related. Site 2 is much clearer and does not violate the spatial contiguity principle as much.

Therefore, I would select your first site as a violation.

Your thoughts are appreciated.